Sunday, February 19, 2012

MIX VEGETABLE


(JAIN SABZI WITHOUT ONION & GARLIC)
I prepare this recipe for Sankashti when we keep fast and cannot eat onion or garlic.

Ingredients
Vegetables mixed 2 cups chopped (beans, carrot, potato, peas etc)
Tomatoes 3-4 medium sized
Green chilli 2
Kaju 5-6
Ginger 1 ½ inch
Dalchini stick 1 inch
Bay leaf 1 small
Laung 2
Cardamom 2
Sesame seeds/til 2 tsp
Dhania powder 2 tsp
Jeera powder 1 tsp
Garam masala powder ½ tsp
Red chilli powder ½ tsp
Kasoori methi 2 tsp (optional)
Milk ½ cup
Salt to taste
Oil

Preparation
Boil all vegetables and keep aside.

Make a puree with tomato, green chilli, ginger, and kaju.

Heat oil, add dalchini stick, bay leaf, laung, cardamom, and til. Add puree to it. Sauté for 2 min. add dhania powder, jeera powder, and chilli powder. Sauté again for 2-3 min on medium flame. Add boiled vegetables, salt, milk and garam masala. Cover & cook for 5 min.

Serve with chappatis or rotis.

BANANA BUNS


(BANANA FLAVORED PURIS)

This is a good recipe for morning breakfast or a take away for picnics. Tastes really good. Using pretty ripe bananas for this recipes makes the buns really tasty. This recipe comes from Mangalore.

Ingredients
Ripe bananas 2 big (mashed)
Sugar powdered 1 ½ cups
Yogurt (sour)/Dahi 5 tbsp
Baking soda ¾ tsp
Salt ¼ tsp
Maida or all purpose flour 5 cups or as needed
Oil for deep frying

Preparation
Mix mashed banana, powdered sugar, dahi, baking soda and salt. Add maida and mix. Keep adding maida as needed to prepare a stiff dough. The dough is a little sticky. Keep aside for 5-6 hours.

Take lemon sized portions of the dough and roll them into thick puris. Heat oil in a kadai on medium heat. Deep fry till golden brown.

Serve with coconut chutney or can be eaten as it is. Serves good as snack or breakfast.

Friday, February 17, 2012

KANDYA KODBALE


(RICE FLOUR & ONION MURUKKU)
My granny used to prepare this yummy kodbale at tea time or on our demand. Now my mom prepares this whenever we ask for it. It is a great tea time snack.

Rice flour 3-4 cups or as needed
Maida or all purpose flour 2 tbsp
Onion 1 big chopped finely
Green chilli 3-4 chopped finely
Haldi ¼ tsp
Jeera 1 tsp
Butter 2 tbsp
Hot oil 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Preparation
Mix onion, green chilli, haldi, jeera, butter, hot oil, and salt. Add maida and mix. Add rice flour to this mixture and prepare a stiff dough.

Take lemon sized portions of the dough and roll them into kodbale shape.

Heat oil in a kadai on medium heat. Deep fry these kodbale and remove when golden brown. Serve hot with tea.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

BISI BELE BHAATH


(RICE & TOOR DAL COOKED WITH VEGETABLES & SPICES)
My mom prepares this dish really well and one of my fav. This is a good alternative when you are tired of cooking same kind of dal, rice, sabzi etc. Tastes really gud with boondi, potato chips and raita.

 Ingredients
Rice 1 ½ cups
Toor dal 1 cup
Mixed vegetables chopped 3 cups
(beans, carrot, potato, peas, cucumber etc)
Onion 1 big chopped
Green chilli 2 chopped
Tomato 2 big chopped
Curry leaves a few
Red chilli 2
Mustard seeds 2 tsp
Jeera 1 tsp
Cloves 1
Kaju a few
Hing a pinch
Haldi 1 tsp
Bisibelebhaath powder (MTR brand) 4 tsp
Tamarind pulp ¼ cup
Salt to taste
Oil

Preparation
Heat oil in a kadai. Add mustard seeds, as they splutter add jeera, hing, clove, red chilli, onion, green chilli, curry leaves. Sauté. Add chopped vegetables and haldi. Sauté.

Add washed dal and rice. Add water above level of this mix. Cover and cook.
When rice and dal are fully cooked add tomatoes, salt, tamarind pulp, bisibelebhaath powder and water. Cover and cook for some more time.

Serve hot with boondi, potato chips and raita.

DHODDAK


(FINE RAVA PANCAKES WITH ONION & TOMATO)
My M-inlaw prepares this for breakfast and I keep eating it for lunch, for tea, and for dinner. This is my fav dish. It should be eaten with chutney powder and lots of fresh butter.

 Ingredients
Fine rava/sooji or Bombay rava nearly 3 cups
Onion 2 big chopped finely
Tomato 2 medium sized chopped finely
Green chillies 5 slit lengthwise and chopped
Coconut ¾ cup grated
Cooked rice ½ cup for softness
Dhania leaves chopped (optional)
Oil
Salt to taste
Butter as needed

Preparation
Prepare a thick mixture of rava, onion, tomato, green chilli, coconut, rice, salt and water as needed. Keep aside for ½ hr.

Heat a tava, take a palm full of this mixture and place it in center of tava, flatten it as thin as possible by dipping hand in water into a circular shape.

Leave oil on sides of dhoddak and cover it for 2 min on medium flame. Turn it on other side and fry for 2 min.

Serve immediately with lots of fresh butter.

AMBLI KHUVULL


(RAW MANGO SIDE DISH)
This is a very mouth-watering recipe and easy to make “khatta-meetta” recipe. Very good for women who are pregnant (crave for something sour) as it contains jiggery or gud (rich in iron).

Ingredients
Raw mangoes 5 small to medium size, cut into small pieces
Green chilli 4 chopped big
Curry leaves a few
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Jeera 1 tsp
Hing a pinch
Urad dal 1 tsp
Gud / jiggery 250 gm grated
Salt to taste
Oil

Preparation
Heat oil in a kadai. Add mustard seeds, as they splutter add jeera, hing, urad dal, curry leaves and green chillies. Sauté. Add cut raw mango pieces, salt and gud. Add ½ cup of water. Cover and cook till raw mango is fully cooked and gets yellowish in color. Switch off gas & let it cool.

Store in an air-tight container and can be kept in fridge for 15 days. 

Monday, January 23, 2012

GIRMIT


(PUFFED RICE/KURMURA SOUTH INDIAN STYLE)
This is my home town specialty and can be eaten with any kind of pakodas as accompaniment. This is a South Indian style bhelpuri. I just relish Girmit with “mirchi baje”(green chilli pakodas). It is yummy combo…

Ingredients
Puffed rice/kurmura 3 cups
Onion 1 +1 small big (chopped)
Green chilli 2 (chopped)
Curry leaves a few
Tomato 1 medium (chopped) optional
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Jeera ½ tsp
Hing a small pinch
Besan/chana flour 2 tbsp
Oil 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Lemon juice 1 tsp
Dhania leaves for garnishing (chopped)

Preparation
Heat oil, add mustard seeds. As they splutter add jeera, hing, green chillies, curry leaves, and onion. Sauté. Add tomato at this point. Add haldi and salt to taste. Let the mixture cool.

Take a deep mouthed vessed. Add kurmura, onion mixture, and a small onion chopped. Mix it well. Add besan, lemon juice and mix it again. Put it in plate like a heap and garnish with dhania leaves.

Serve immediately with pakodas and hot tea.

ALOO PARANTHA


This is a very simple recipe and can be prepared with very few ingredients.

Ingredients
Potatoes (peeled & boiled) 2
Green chillies 2 (chopped)
Hing a pinch
Wheat flour 2 cups
Salt to taste
Oil
Ghee

Preparation
Mash the potatoes, add green chillies chopped, hing and salt to taste. Mix well. Make 4 portions of lemon-sized balls.

Knead wheat flour, oil and salt with water into a chappati dough. Keep aside for ½ hr. Make 4 protions. Take 1 portion, roll the dough like puri and fill in aloo mix. Seal  and roll again like chapatti.

Roast on a hot tava with ghee and serve hot with pickle or any sauce. 

Sunday, January 8, 2012

DAL AND SPRING ONION PARANTHA


This recipe originated when I fell short of vegetables and had only spring onion in the refrigerator and some left over dal. These paranthas taste yum with any chutney or sauce or cheese spread.

Ingredients
Spring onion 2 bunches
Left over dal 1 cup
Haldi 1 tsp
Red chilli powder ½ tsp
Garam masala powder ½ tsp
Wheat flour as needed
Salt to taste
Oil to knead

Preparation
Wash & cut spring onion. Heat nonstick pan, add spring onion and sauté till it turns to half the quantity. Remove and keep aside.

In a bowl, add sautéd spring onion, dal, haldi, red chilli powder, garam masala powder and salt. Mix well. Add wheat flour knead like a chapatti atta.  Add oil and knead well. Cover and keep aside for 1 hour.

Make balls of the dough and roll like chapatti. Heat a tava, roast like a chapatti on both sides with oil or ghee.

Serve hot with any chutney or sauce or any kind of cheese spread. 

APPE


(Urad dal & rice dumplings prepared in moulds)
My M-in law prepares Appe/ phud on my demand. I got recipe from her and tried it. This is my favorite breakfast.

Ingredients
Urad dal 3 cups
Dosa rice 1 cup
Poha (flattened rice) 1 tbsp
Oil
Salt to taste
Onion 1 big chopped finely
Dhania leaves chopped (optional)

Preparation
Soak urad dal and dosa rice separately for 6 -7 hours. Soak poha 10 min before grinding.

Grind rice & poha finely. Grind urad dal separately with less water. Mix both batters. It should have a consistency of idly batter. Cover and let ferment. At salt, onion and dhania at this point.

Heat Appe mould tava on low to medium flame. Add ¼ tsp oil and add batter as required.

Cover for 1 min. Turn them around. Keep for 1-2 mins.

Remove and serve hot with coconut chutney.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

DAHI KARELA


(Spicy bitter gourd sabzi)
I always hated eating anything made with “karela” and made faces. My mom tried this dish and now it is my favorite. My husband had not tried karela before marriage and now he relishes this dish. This dish is for all those people who Hate karela.

Ingredients
Karela 4
Onion 2 big chopped
Green chilli 2 chopped
Dahi 1 ½ cups (thick & sour)
Dhania powder 2 tsp
Haldi 1 tsp
Red chilli powder 1 tsp
Garam masala powder ¼ tsp
Salt to taste
Oil
Preparation
Wash & cut karela into thin circles. Add salt (more than required quantity). Keep aside for 1 hour. Squeeze out karela out of all salt water. Heat a pan, dry roast karela on medium flame for nearly 15 mins. Keep aside.

Heat oil, add chopped onion and green chilli. Sauté till onion turns transparent. Add haldi, red chilli powder, and garam masala powder. Sauté. Add dahi on a low flame and fry till oil separates on sides of pan. Add karela. Stir well and add salt if needed. Cover and cook for 5 mins. garnish with dhania leaves.

Serve with hot chappatis or rotis.